dandelion ~

I think I'd get a headache discussing anything here concerning the church of the New Dimensions. Some of the stuff may be right on, but it gets tweaked. Like his idea of Hell. He says it ain't so, but it ain't so for those who accepted Christ. He says so, but sure takes a long time to say so. But accepting Christ goes on this absolutely liberal theology of...now nothing is wrong in the sight of God thinking. Wow! Crazy!

By the way, you emailed WHO? And you are awaiting an answer from WHOM?

Nobody emailed me. I filled out a form on the website and will probably end up put on a mailing list till Judgement Day, for those who don't believe that has already happened.

I didn't hear the whole program--I was trying to listen and do something else at the same time--but understood the upshot to be that this guy was at first afraid innocent people were being tossed into Hell (like some monk who lived on a mountain and never heard of Christ) so simply decided "his" God loved everybody and never made a hell--that it's a concept people create for themselves and each other.

Here is a link to a very nice article on Forry and his passing, written by Richard Corliss, which appears on TIME MAGAZINE's website:

http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1864854,00.html

Wonderful!

Richard:
The cemetery where Forry will be spending eternity, Forest Lawn Glendale, is almost walking distance from Mystery and Imagination. Let me know if you'd like to make a pilgrimage there the next time you are in town.

No word on the funeral as yet. I can only assume there will not be one.

I'm told a memorial service will come later, but how much later I have to wonder.

Ye gods, I hope I won't be in Florida during! I'll have to send Cathy in my stead to video it for me.

11.58pm - how telling is that?

Thanks LJ Dopp.

I was thinking the same thing.....

4E's final earthly stop: Forest Lawn Glendale, 11th December.

Is that the same "coffin table" he had in his home? I'd have sworn that was wooden, but maybe it was just in a wooden enclosure.

Not the same.

quote:

Originally posted by Doug Spaulding:
Not the same.

Any word on what happened to the original?

quote:

Originally posted by dandelion:
Any word on what happened to the original?

It was there two weeks ago when I was last there.

Don't know who inherited it.

His last gift to us, it seems to me, was time to prepare. By cheating Prince Sirki out of several precious weeks, countless fans and admirers from far and wide were given the chance to pour out their hearts, send letters and cards, call and post and raise their collective voices in one thunderous, joyous shout of love (even as they held back the tears… their time would come soon enough). The fortunate ones were able to see him one last time, to touch him, to speak softly and laugh deeply, to remember all the monsters he made famous. And finally, to bid him well on his journey into the infinite.

As Forry’s condition worsened, I began to think quite a bit about what a world without him would feel like. Could it be possible that there would be no more “midnight snakes” at the House of Pies? No more retellings (and re-retellings!) of his wonderful stories of Lugosi (“Amazed!“) or Karloff (“Just good clean living… up to the age of six.“)? No more encores of Sonny Boy or April Showers? No more tales of the first McDonalds on Mars or “ro-ro-ro your bot, gently down the stream“? No more trips to Metropolis? No more puns?

But now that he’s moved on, I understand that I had it all wrong. I now realize that Forry long ago stopped existing as just a human being (though God, wasn’t he one of the very best of those?) and became more a state of mind, an elemental part of our lives, a touchstone and a presence that can not die. He is our talisman, our charm, the better part of ourselves. He’s here with me now, and there with you as well. In us he is indestructible.

Tears? You bet, from all corners they fell (and continue to fall). After all, we’re only human. And we’ll shed more still in the days ahead. But Forry, I strongly suspect, would soon want us to dry those tears and turn instead to… the future. He was, after all, all about the future. Even in the past, he could find the future. And it is into that future that we will carry him, in us, in our good work and dreams and adventures still to come.

Still think he’s gone? Okay, then just try this. Next time you have one of those crystal-clear, moonlit nights (you know the kind I mean, they happened all the time when we were younger) wherever you call home, take a step outside under that deep night sky.

Feel the moonlight on your face.

And look up. Higher.


Why, there’s Forry right there, that brightest star to the right, over near Mars, just this side of forever. Then listen closely for a soft laugh and a mischievous voice, mingling with the cool night breeze as it covers over you…

"Hi pal! You in the mood for food?"

Up, up, and away with 4SJ.

I've written two Uncle Forry tributes of late. One was written for the Classic Horror Film Board soon after Forry returned home from the hospital and began saying his bittersweet goodbyes.

The other was sent out to the Pillar of Fire e-mail list last Sunday, just after our live presentation last Friday of my radio-drama adaptation of Charles Dickens' A CHRISTMAS CAROL. The performance was preceded by my annual library reading of Ray's short story "Bless Me, Father, for I Have Sinned" and his poem "Dogs Think That Every Day is Christmas," plus a special greeting Ray wrote for Pillar of Fire regarding his love of Dickens, CHRISTMAS CAROL and Alastair Sim and his explanation of the influence of Dickens on his work (particularly his novel THE HALLOWEEN TREE and the short story and play "Any Friend of Nicholas Nickleby's is a Friend of Mine").

Two days later I sent out a newsletter to the Pillar of Fire e-mail list expressing my appreciation for their support of our special Christmas evening (more than 200 people elbowed their way into the library for the occasion). Since the readings and CHRISTMAS CAROL performance took place just a matter of six hours or so after Anita and I received the call from L.A. about Forry's death, I spent much of the Pillar of Fire newsletter paying reflective tribute to his memory.

It's much too long to post here, but if any of you would like to read it, just e-mail me at pillaroffire@bellsouth.net and I'll send it to you. I have also been asked to submit a memorial piece for the magazine MONSTERS FROM THE VAULT.

In the meantime, I have finally written a full report and posted a dozen or so photos from our special screening and reunion of the ALFRED HITCHCOCK HOUR version of Ray's classic story "The Jar." I posted these on the Classic Horror Film Board (I seem to be able to navigate photographic images much more deftly there than on these boards) earlier today.

If you're interested, just check out ...

http://monsterkidclassichorrorforum.yuku.com/topic/18746

A memorial for Forry will definitely take place sometime in January, but no decision has been made on the exact date or location.

I've talked with Ray on the phone about a dozen times since Forry's death. I read him a few selections from my tribute, and he broke into tears so many times that I just had to stop.

I hope all of you have seen Forry featured in the TCM REMEMBERS salute to Hollywood figures who passed away in 2008. Even though we were well aware of their deaths, Anita and I were shocked to see the cumulative images of so many special people that we knew so well on a personal level, from Forry, John Phillip Law, Ben Chapman, Hazel Court and Vampira to our Memphis, Nashville and Muscle Shoals music buddies Isaac Hayes and Jerry Reed.

I didn't know Van Johnson personally, but I did see him perform on stage twice -- once in the '70s in a production of THERE'S A GIRL IN MY SOUP at our local college, and again fifteen years later on Broadway in LA CAGE AUX FOLLES. Then there were other personal heroes, from Charlton Heston (who always responded to my mail) and Richard Widmark to Stan Winston and Arthur C. Clarke.

And now we've lost beautiful Bettie Page (who once graced the cover of an ELLERY QUEEN'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE that featured one of Ray's stories) and the radiant Beverly Garland.

Such a sad, sad year ...

Terry Pace
pillaroffire@bellsouth.net

"God, here and there, makes madness a calling." -- Ray Bradbury

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